A note on aggregating opinions

Abstract This note examines the number of experts to be included in a prediction group where the criterion of predictive ability is the correlation between the uncertain event and the mean judgment of the group members. It is shown that groups containing between 8 and 12 members have predictive ability close to the “optimum” under a wide range of circumstances but provided (1) mean intercorrelation of experts' opinions is not low (

[1]  Robin M. Hogarth,et al.  Quality of Group Judgment , 1977 .

[2]  Hillel J. Einhorn,et al.  Expert measurement and mechanical combination , 1972 .

[3]  Lewis R. Goldberg,et al.  Man versus model of man: A rationale, plus some evidence, for a method of improving on clinical inferences. , 1970 .

[4]  R. Dawes,et al.  Linear models in decision making. , 1974 .

[5]  M. G. Preston Note on the reliability and the validity of the group judgment. , 1938 .

[6]  J. Davitz,et al.  A survey of studies contrasting the quality of group performance and individual performance, 1920-1957. , 1958, Psychological bulletin.

[7]  J. H. Davis Group decision and social interaction: A theory of social decision schemes. , 1973 .

[8]  E. Ghiselli Theory of psychological measurement , 1964 .

[9]  R. Hogarth Methods for Aggregating Opinions , 1977 .

[10]  L. R. Goldberg,et al.  DIAGNOSTICIANS VS. DIAGNOSTIC SIGNS: THE DIAGNOSIS OF PSYCHOSIS VS. NEUROSIS FROM THE MMPI. , 1965, Psychological monographs.

[11]  H. J. Eysenck,et al.  The validity of judgments as a function of the number of judges. , 1939 .

[12]  S. Holstein,et al.  Assessment and evaluation of subjective probability distributions , 1970 .

[13]  Robert L. Winkler,et al.  Probabilistic Prediction: Some Experimental Results , 1971 .

[14]  R. Hogarth,et al.  Unit weighting schemes for decision making , 1975 .

[15]  Robert B. Zajonc,et al.  A Note on Group Judgements and Group Size , 1962 .

[16]  H. J. Einhorn Expert judgment: Some necessary conditions and an example. , 1974 .

[17]  S. F. Klugman,et al.  Group and individual judgments for anticipated events. , 1947, The Journal of social psychology.